At Last We Meet Again For the First Time
by Loyal Eskamoe
Summary: Cordelia has a vision but Angel's not around to help. Seeing no other choice, she heads off to investigate it on her own. But why did she see a big blue phone booth with the words Police Public Call Box on it?


Cordelia managed to get back into her seat, with only a little bit of a whimper, and rested her head on her desk. Blinking back tears, she realized her visions were steadily getting worse.

But this was the price for being able to help Angel. So what if every time it almost hurt worse than getting a rebar through the stomach? People were depending on her. Angel was depending on her. Cordelia stifled back a groan and grabbed a pencil to jot pencil down what she could remember. 'There was something about a guy in a dark suit and long brown coat... Oh, and a big blue box! He was walking out of it?' Cordelia tapped her pencil on the desk. That was pretty vague, she decided, and concentrated on figuring out where her vision took place. She remembered something that looked like a warehouse. No help there. And she could smell... Cordelia wrinkled her nose in disgust. It smelled like a wet dog that took a bath in poo infested sewer water!

She snapped her fingers. It wasn't a warehouse! It was the waste processing plant! That's where the guy in the suit is! Cordelia picked up the phone and dialed Angel. A digital ringing sound started coming from his office. The seer narrowed her eyes. If that was indeed what she thought it was, she was so going to stake him, that stupid, mousse-loving dumb-ass of a vampire!

Cordelia hung up the phone. Lo and behold, the ringing stopped. "Perfect," she muttered, dialing Wesley. No wait, he still had a concussion from fighting the Borast beast. She sighed and didn't even bother to finish punching in the numbers. Oh well, there was still Gunn.

After about twenty minutes, she started to get antsy. Gunn still hadn't answered his page, and her vision was starting to feel a little time sensitive. Like someone had to get there soon or it would be too late.

Cordelia went to the weapons rack and grabbed an axe small enough to fit in her purse. She called Wesley and told him where she was going, in case Angel or Gunn contacted him. Conveniently, she left out the part about how she was investigating a vision. Instead, telling him that she was going to the waste processing plant to investigate a lead on one of their non-supernatural cases.

"Still," he protested. "Someone should go with you. If Gunn or Angel isn't available, then I..."

"...Have a freaking concussion, Wesley. Boss or no boss, there's no way in hell I'm letting you tag along in your condition." The former Watcher began offering assurances that he was alright. Cordelia snorted in derision. "You're so loopy right now that I wouldn't trust you to back me up at the mall. At this point, I'd rather take Fred. And she won't even leave her room!" Wesley didn't say anything, but she could tell her friend was offended. "Look," she began in a gentler tone. "If you came with and got hurt, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself, okay?" He still didn't respond. "I'll be fine, Wesley. I'm from Sunnydale, remember? I think I can handle a human informant in the middle of the day."

"I don't like it, Cordelia."

She smiled at his earnest concern for her. "Don't worry. I'm bringing an axe..." Cordelia reached back into the weapons rack. "... and the tranq gun too. If it gets creepy, I'll just shoot 'em."

It took a little more cajoling, but Wesley finally agreed to simply pass her message along to Angel or Gunn. She wished him a speedy recovery, then hung up.

-

It took a half an hour to reach the waste processing plant. and Cordelia was beginning to worry that it was too late. Maybe she shouldn't have called Wesley? No, that would've been stupid. It's bad enough she was going into a potential combat situation with no back-up, but to not let anyone know where she's going? Nanny Rosa didn't raise no fools.

Her vision said the box should be in an ally outside the of the plant, so Cordelia began walking the perimeter. Eventually, she turned a corner and there it was, in all it's blue glory. She looked at it for a minute. The words POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX were written along the top. And it was big. Big enough to fit at least two people in it.

Walking past the blue box, she began heading towards the plant. Before she took even three steps, the man from her vision began running towards her. Cordelia expertly whipped out her tranq gun and shot him.

He stopped and pulled the dart out.

"Oi, what'd you do that for?" he asked in a British accent before collapsing.

Cordelia reloaded the gun and went to check on him.

The guy was still conscious! There was enough tranquilizer in those darts to knock a vampire out! No way should he still be awake!

He stared up at her, worry etched all over every inch of his face. "Run," he said weakly. "Run..."

A roar sounded off in the not too distance. She looked back down at the guy. "You weren't going to attack me, were you?"

He managed to roll over onto his back, and gasped out another warning. "You really should be going now. If it catches you, that little pop gun won't do much good."

"Crap," Cordelia muttered, reaching down to help him up.

"What are you doing?" The guy pushed her away, standing up on his own. RUN!"

So she did. The man, right behind her.

Out of nowhere, a creature leapt in front of them, blocking the way out.

It was bipedal and enormous, with green skin and beady black eyes. It's teeth were long and sharp and seemed to bulge from it's saliva dripping, open mouth. The creature took stock of the meat before it. It's great, long, sharp claws twitched, aching to slash and tear.

Cordelia shot it in the mouth.

The creature roared in surprise and pain. She and the man took advantage of it's distraction to run back the way he came.

"Where are we going?" she yelled to him. He didn't answer. In fact, he didn't speak again. Not until they reached an entrance to the plant. Without even checking to see if it was locked the man pulled out a little tube thingy and pointed it at the door. The tube thingy began emitting a faint blue light and a shrill, high-pitched whine.

"Come on!" he yelled frantically, seconds before a clanking sound from the other side of the door was heard. "Yes!" He yanked the door open and hurried in. The creature was coming behind them fast.

Once on the other side, he told Cordelia to hold the door shut as best she could, and began pointing the tube thingy at the door again.

It was then she noticed that the door had electronically controlled locks. There was no way a tube thingy with a tiny blue light should be able to unlock this door. As the beast began slamming into said door, Cordelia decided she really didn't care, just so long as the blue light could lock it again.

No sooner did the thought enter her mind, than she heard the clanking noise. Much louder for being on this side of the door. The creature slammed against the entrance twice more, then all was silent.

The guy looked at her. His eyes were utterly unreadable. "Well, you're a bit quick with the shot, aren't you?"

Cordelia loaded up the gun again. "Yeah, I am. So maybe you can tell me what the hell's going on before I shoot you again and leave you for that thing!"

Infuriatingly, the guy chuckled. "If you were the sort to do that, you wouldn't have tried to pick me up back there."

She glared at him, absolutely pissed off that her bluff was called. "What's that anyway? And how'd it open the door?" she asked, pointing to the tube thingy he still had in his hands.

"What, this? But I thought..." Cordelia gave him an impatient look. "Wouldn't you rather talk about the great, big... grr?" he pantomimed having huge claws and bared his teeth. She glared at him some more. "No? Alright then. It's a screwdriver."

Cordelia pointed the gun at him.

"It's a sonic screwdriver?" he offered.

Cordelia got out her axe.

"What? It is!" The man turned the blue light on again. The whirring noise came with it. "Hear that? That's sonics! I promise! Now really. We absolutely don't have time for this. There's a creature out there that's killing, and I'm trying to stop it."

His eyes, that were so blank just a moment ago, now begged, pleaded with her to believe him.

She lowered her weapons.

He breathed out a sigh of relief. "What have you got an axe for anyway? Or a tranquilizer gun, for that matter?"

"Are you a Watcher?" she asked instead of answering.

The man seamed to consider his reply carefully. "Well, that's an interesting question. I mean, I do tend to watch a lot of things happen, but I suppose I've always considered myself to be more of a passive observer." He frowned. "Well I say passive... And it's bit less observation, more running around and getting shot by brunettes in a sewer plant."

"Hey, you attacked me!"

The man looked deeply offended. "I did not!"

"You so did!"

"I didn't! You even said I didn't!"

She thought to herself for a second. He was right! Cordelia cursed herself for being so rattled. "Well you looked like you were going to!"

"Well maybe if you gave me a chance to get a word out before opening fire..."

"Shooting you is still an option."

He smirked. "Didn't do much for you last time, did it?"

"I've still got an axe," Cordelia reminded him.

They stood there, eye to eye, for a tense moment. The creature's roar echoed throughout the building.

"We should probably get moving," he said to her, getting out his screwdriver again.

"So how do we stop that thing," she asked him fervently.

The man smiled at her. "I've got a thermal conductor, plasma regulating device in the TARDIS." He pointed the screwdriver back at the door. "If you can distract the Meta-Sil, I can get it."

Cordelia gave the man a dubious expression. "I have no idea what you said." Then it hit her. Well, the important bits anyway. "Wait! You want ME to distract that thing?"

He reached into his pocket, pulled out a device, and tossed it to her. "That is a corpulous solotrindrian sonar emitter. It will send out a sound that will draw a Metacorpulous Silitrondria -Meta-Sil for short- directly to you." The door opened and he held up the sonic screwdriver. "Point this at any door and it will open for you. To lock it, all you have to do is turn the screwdriver like this," he demonstrated for her, "and then point it again. Just turn it back the other way to put it back to locking things. Got it?"

Nodding, the seer took the tool. "Listen," he said very seriously, "the Meta-Sil is one of the deadliest creatures I've seen. They are quick, they are clever, and they eat the feces of their prey in order to gain their scent. I've been tracking it ever since I detected it's arrival underneath downtown LA. I was too late getting here. It killed the workers, got all the scents it needs, and now all it wants to do is feed. That thing gets out, and dozens -maybe hundreds- more will die today."

"Then what are we waiting for, mister? Let's get that poo-eating demon!" Cordelia strode confidently out the door.

"Demons..." The man chuckled, following her.

Once outside, he started back in the direction he was running when they first met up. Cordelia watched him go for a second, then activated the emitting thing and tossed it in through the door and down the hall. She hid behind a conveniently placed dumpster, reasonably certain there was no way for the Meta-thing to have gotten her scent. Mainly because it didn't eat her poo. Ew! Clearly it was the very definition of yuck-monster, and needed to die.

Very soon, the roar of the creature could be heard as it came barreling around a corner and through the doorway. Cordelia rushed out from her hiding spot and yanked the door shut. She pointed the sonic screwdriver at the lock and sincerely hoped she was doing this right. The creature slammed into the door, and Cordelia decided what she really hoped was that the creature didn't realize the door opened inwards.

This was all Angel's fault! If that brooding bozo wasn't so damned afraid of his cellphone, she could've told him about her vision. Then he'd be the one handling this! But no, Angel can't figure out how the buttons work. So she's the one who gets all sweaty and smelly, fighting the demons with a guy who's said he was getting a... whatever it was, and who really should've been back by now!

Finally, she heard the clanking of the door being locked! On the other side, she could hear the beast scream at being denied it's kill once more.

"I'm coming up behind you, so please don't shoot me again," the man yelled, plodding up next to her wearing a ridiculous looking techno-backpack.

She glared at him. "Jeez! Slack off much? What the hell took you so long?"

He looked at her disdainfully. "Aren't you snarky? I needed to sift through quite a lot of stuff in order to find something that would safely contain a Meta-Sil without killing it."

"Why wouldn't you want to kill it?"

The man inhaled through his teeth. "Yeah, it's sorta, kinda, a protected species. And we can't kill it without causing a terrible diplomatic incident."

Cordelia could not believe what she was hearing. "With who? Who would WANT to protect a yucky, poo eating demon!"

He shrugged. "The People's Government of Raxacoricofallapatorius."

She stared at him blankly. "You just made that word up."

"If you like. Still, the important thing is that we don't kill the creature. It's dangerous, it's deadly, but it's also endangered." He thought for a moment. "Dangerous...deadly...endangered... Does that still count as alliteration?" he asked her.

Cordelia rubbed her face tiredly. "I don't care. Can we please just get rid of this thing before it kills anyone else?"

The man smiled. "All we have to do is attach the corpulous solotrindrian sonar emitter to my thermal conductor, plasma regulating device," he patted his backpack, "which will draw the Meta-Sil, and trap it! Easy peasy."

"Great. Just great." Cordelia pointed at the door. "The emitter is in there!"

"Well, what's it doing in there?" he demanded with a very indignant look on his face.

"I threw it in there!"

"Give me my screwdriver back," the man sneered. "Obviously you don't know what it's for. I'm a little disappointed, Cordelia. Really, after our last encounter I expected much better from you."

"What?"

He blinked in surprise. "What, what?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The last time we met. You know, the World Breakers?" She gave him a bewildered look. "No, you don't know?" Cordelia shook her head and the man began shuffling his feet. "Well this is awkward, isn't it?"

"What are you talking about?" she repeated, only this time it was more of a demand than a question.

"Right, you must not have met me yet. It's been ages since I met you though." His eyes grew distant. "Lifetimes even."

"I'm going to hit you." And Cordelia raised her axe to do just that.

He backed away with his hands up in a placating gesture. "Now, Cordelia, there's no need for that. I have a very simple explanation for all this."

Cordy stared at him hard, assessing his sincerity. Finally, she lowered her weapon.

The man smiled, a genuinely happy expression. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet, buster. Where's that explanation."

His smile faltered. "Yeah, that's going to be tricky."

Cordelia took a menacing step forward. "I thought you said it was going to be simple?"

"I was lying. I do that sometimes. Never about the important things, mind you." The man began nodding his head, as if considering his words. "But that one was definitely a lie."

"But," he continued of off Cordelia's very visible anger, "I do have one! An explanation! You just might not believe it!" His eyes widened as he remembered something. "Oh! But you will! You told me that!" He grinned toothily at her.

She glared at him some more. "What did I tell you?"

"That you'll believe me."

The young woman let out a frustrated huff. "I don't even know who you are," she said tiredly.

He gave her a brilliant smile. "I'm the Doctor, Cordelia Chase, and it is my very great pleasure to meet you again."

"But I've never met you!"

The Doctor's smile never wavered. "But you will. In your future, in my past, we will meet again!"

Cordelia gave him a bewildered look. "How does that even make any kind of sense?"

"I'm a time traveler."

"What does THAT mean?"

He rolled his eyes. "It means I travel through time." Cordelia was about to argue some more, but the Doctor interrupted her. "Can we please focus on capturing the deadly creature? I promise I'll answer your questions after, okay?"

Without waiting for an answer, he pushed the seer aside and began opening the door.

"Now, if we're very, very lucky, the Meta-Sil won't have taken the emitter. It's shiny and they like that sort of thing."

Once again, Cordelia heard the clanking sound and she and the Doctor entered the plant.

"Stay behind me," he cautioned. "It's not like anything you've faced before. Well actually, it's quite like a lot of things you've faced before, isn't it? Living here in LA?"

"Pfft! You think this place is bad, you should see Sunnydale," Cordelia replied, raising her axe into a defensive position.

The Doctor seemed to consider it as he looked around for the emitter. "I just might at that. Haven't been to the ol' Hellmouth since the Mayor took control." He grinned when he saw it laying, untouched, where Cordelia threw it.

"You knew about the Mayor?"

"Oh yeah. A dimensional rift, twice as potent as the one in Cardiff, gets taken over by an evil wizard bent on Ascension? And then he builds a town on top of it? Just try and keep that one from me." The Doctor hadn't yet moved towards the emitter. He just kept staring at it while he talked. "It's a shame all the energy coming from the Hellmouth was from incompatible dimensions. Otherwise I'd be going there to recharge the TARDIS."

Cordelia stared balefully at the Doctor. This man knew what the Mayor had been up to, but did nothing to stop it. "I lost a lot of friends on Graduation Day."

The Doctor didn't move. Didn't turn and face her. "History tells us that, in spectacularly human fashion, the graduating class of 1999 rose up against the Mayor who tried to end... Oh, everything, and stopped him from doing so."

"The media covered Graduation up! They said it was a gas leak that blew up the school and killed the Mayor!"

Though he still didn't look away from the emitter, a smile did break out on his face. "Cordelia. Didn't anyone ever tell you history is written by the victors? Believe you me. In two hundred years time, no one will be reading what the Sunnydale Post had to say. No. Instead they'll be reading all about what really went on in that little town."

The Doctor finally spoke to her directly, eyes shining with pride. "They'll remember you -all of you- as heroes."

Cordelia searched hard, in those eyes, for any signs of deception. But all she could see was a kind of sincerity that you almost had no choice but to believe in.

And so she smiled at him, and the Doctor felt as though the sun had come out from behind a cloudy sky, the difference was so dramatic.

"Um," Cordelia wiped away at her eyes. "So why aren't we getting the emitter?"

"Remember how I said Meta-Sils are clever?" She nodded. "Do you also remember how I said they like shiny things?" She nodded again. "Then what, pray tell, is my emitter still doing there?"

"You said we would be really, really lucky if it was." He gave her a look that said he knew she could do better. Cordelia grimaced. "Nobody's ever that lucky, are they?"

"Nope," the Doctor assured emphatically. "I think we're looking at a trap."

She scowled. "I hate traps."

-

The Metacorpulous Silitrondria was indeed very intelligent for a beast. It realized that it's prey was not falling for it's trap. Unfortunately for the creature, it was also then that the heating duct it was hiding in began making the strange noise. What sort of thing was doing it? The heating duct was chosen because it afforded the creature the ability to keep an eye on it's bait. The fact that it was shiny inside didn't hurt one bit either. The shiny was nice. But why now was it breaking? Was the brown covered meat with the shiny tube responsible? That was the one that kept making the way blocked. Maybe it was the long furred meat with the shooting stinger? That one used a shiny tube too.

The duct made another creaking noise, and when it started going backwards, the Meta-Sil understood it needed to go now so that it wouldn't fall out of the shiny hiding place. If it fell, the meat would know where it was. Then there would be no chance to make the meat into slices. That would not be fun.

The creature's mouth began to water at the idea of tearing Cordelia and the Doctor into ribbons, and drool began dribbling from it's mouth. Consequently, the interior of the heating duct lost any and all traction.

-

"Now really, where would something as large as a Meta-Sil hide?" The Doctor looked all around. "Maybe I'm being paranoid? There's no place for it to be. It can't turn invisible, nor is it strong enough to go through concrete. The heating duct's no good. Wouldn't support the weight of it."

Cordelia was just about to throw her two cents in when a loud creaking noise echoed throughout the hallway. "What was that?"

"I think," the Doctor said wryly. "That I might have overestimated the Meta-Sil's cleverness." He sprang for the emitter. No sooner did he get to it, than did the object of his hunt fall directly between he and Cordelia.

The Meta-Sil was disoriented for just a moment. It shook it's great head clear, then bellowed a mighty scream of frustration and rage.

All the Doctor had to do was attach the emitter to his thermal conductor, plasma regulating device, and the Meta-Sil would be trapped! Of course, if the Meta-Sil looked in his direction, then he was dead. Cordelia shortly after. Then all the people it took scents from. Gah, if only he could tell Cordelia to make a noise, to gain it's attention somehow!

Fortunately, the former cheerleader was coming to the same conclusion. She shot it again. This time in the side of it's face. The creature turned it's head slowly towards her with a deep and hateful growl, anger evident in every muscle of it's taut and mighty frame.

"Oh crap!" Cordelia began walking backwards.

The Meta-Sil took a step forwards.

Cordelia pulled out her axe. "I, uh, oh god..."

The Doctor was hastily assembling his contraption. "I just need five -no, seven- more seconds!"

Somehow, Cordelia really didn't think she was gonna get that much time.

The Meta-Sil crouched, body tense and ready to pounce.

She held her axe steady. Just as tense, but in a defensive position.

Cordelia could've sworn there was a big, toothy grin on the creature's face.

All she had to do was buy the Doctor a couple more seconds, she reasoned to herself. And without any further hesitation, Cordelia swung her weapon at the monster.

Her feeble attack was deftly parried by the Meta-Sil's giant claws.

And as it raised those same claws to tear into her, Cordelia was sure she heard the damned thing snicker.

The Doctor yelled, trying to gain the creature's attention. "By the order, and authority, of the People's Government of Raxacoricofallapatorius, I herby place you under arrest!" He flicked a switch on his techo-backpack and it began emitting a bright light.

The Meta-Sil screamed impotently, before being sucked into the backpack like smoke into a vacuum.

Gasping and trying to regain her composure, Cordelia leveled an incredulous glare at the Doctor. "Under arrest?"

He shrugged. "That's the closest word that translated."

Cordelia walked behind the Doctor and inspected the Meta-Sil's prison. "You know what that reminded me of? A ghost trap from Ghostbusters."

The Doctor gave her a cheeky grin. "Where do you think I got the idea from?"

-

With the Meta-Sil safely contained, it was time for the Doctor to go. Cordelia absolutely had to see a real life time machine in person, and absolutely refused to let the Doctor out of her sight until she did. Needless say, she was underwhelmed.

"That's about the lamest looking time machine I've ever seen."

"It's classic," the Doctor corrected defensively. "And how many time machines have you seen, exactly?"

"None," she admitted. "But I expected something a little more... flashy."

He rolled his eyes. "What is it with you lot?" The Doctor began speaking in an effeminate voice. "Oh, it's not flashy enough. Where's the Spock? Why does it have to look like a Police Box? What do you want? A WABAC Machine? Should I get a dog that talks?" He reached into his coat and put on some glasses. "Golly, Mr. Peabody, why does Paul Revere have a statue of a horse instead of a real one?"

She laughed at him. "Okay, okay. Sorry I said anything. God, you're tetchier Angel!"

The Doctor smirked, having had his bit of fun. He opened the doors to the TARDIS and gestured for her to enter. "Take a look inside if you want flash."

Cordelia peered in through the doors. It had to be a trick! It couldn't be! She gave the Doctor an unsure expression.

He smiled at her indulgently. "Go on."

With that, Cordelia Chase boarded the TARDIS, whose insides were bigger that the outsides.

"Oh my god," she breathed, astonished. "It's really a time machine." She looked at the strangely organic metals and consoles. "How...?"

"You think this room's impressive, you should see the wardrobe wing," the Doctor said knowingly.

Sure enough, Cordelia's eyes lit up. "Wardrobe wing?"

"It's got fashions from... oh, all time."

She stared at him, agog.

-

"I completely take back any an all things bad I ever said about this ship!" Cordelia enthused rapturously. She'd just spent one of the most enjoyable afternoons of her life in the TARDIS's wardrobe wing. It really showed her how cyclical fashion was. The clothes of the future all reminded her of the clothes from the past.

Huh, she thought, I guess history does repeat itself. Also, it becomes apparent that assless chaps seem to come into play somehow. She held them up for her host to see.

"Oh, those aren't... they aren't mine," the Doctor awkwardly reassures. "They were left by a, uh, by a friend. Captain Jack." He smiled at her. "You can try things on if you like." She arched an eyebrow at him. "Not the, the chaps! Other things! Things not chaps!"

She gave him another brilliant smile and practically dove headfirst into the clothes.

Soon, Cordelia emerged dressed in a resplendent evening gown from a human colony from the 29th century. It glowed with magnificent light, making her look like a being ascended from on high.

"What do you think?" she asked him, her face beaming almost as much as the dress.

"I think you should wear it to the Debutantes' Royal Ball of 2993. It took place on an inhabited ice moon, in a palace that overlooked the Valleys of Effulgent Wonder." He smiled. "I dare say you might overshadow them a bit."

Cordelia blinked. "You mean travel through time?"

"What do you say? Care to see the universe?" He continued on before she could say reply "If balls aren't your thing, I could bring you to the commerce planet of Miranda! The largest and greatest shopping mall in the history of ever!"

"Doctor..."

"Or maybe you'd like to see the Medusa Cascade? It's the centre of a rift in time and space, like the Hellmouth. But instead it emits pure, radiant energies. Very spectacular," he said enthusiastically.

"I can't."

The Doctor smiled at her, but his eyes were pleading. "Why not?"

"I have responsibilities." Her visions. "Angel needs me. If I'm not there for him, then..." she chuckled ruefully. "I don't know what he'd do. You know, for a Champion, he's pretty useless with office work."

He laughed. "It's a time machine! We could go sorts of places and have you home in time for tea! Well, you're American, so not tea... Coffee! We'll get you back in time for coffee!"

"Is it dangerous? Traveling with you? Can you guarantee I'll come back?"

He stared into her eyes and promised nothing would happen to her, just so long as he was there to protect her. She almost believed him. Dammit, she wanted to believe him! Almost as much as he wanted to believe himself.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, looking down. "Angel needs me."

"Not just for office work, eh?" The Doctor nodded in sincere understanding before smirking. "Because really, I don't imagine you're actually any good at it."

"Hey!"

"I mean, I've seen the way you run an office. You filed a Scrongerlought under B? Why?"

"Scrongers are bums! They go around scavenging and begging the demon population for handouts!"

"Oh, it's b for bums, then? Well that makes all kinds of more sense than filing a Scrongerlought under S for Scrongerlought."

Cordelia gave him a glare as she went back to change. He just continued smirking.

But when she was out of site, his expression turned to one of sorrow. "I really, really wished you'd come with me," he whispered, knowing what was in her future.

-

She stepped out of the TARDIS and turned to face him. The Doctor leaned in the entrance way.

Cordelia smiled at him. "Thank you for letting me try on the dress."

He returned her smile with his trademarked cheekiness. "It looks better on you than it ever did me."

She laughed. "Thanks." Her smile faded. "So I guess this is goodbye."

"Not for you," the Doctor reminded her. "You've still got to meet me one more time."

"I can't wait," she told him earnestly. "Then I'll be able to drive as crazy as you drove me!"

The Doctor chuckled and, with one last fond farewell, headed back into the TARDIS.

Cordelia watched as the lights on top of the box began to flash. An eery, almost musical noise accompanying them. And the TARDIS faded in and out of time and space, until all that was left was an ally.

-

By the time Cordelia arrived back at the Hyperion, Angel had returned from wherever it was he went. He grimaced as she walked in. After seeing how many missed calls he had from her, Angel fully expected to get yelled at.

He was not disappointed.

-

Angel and all associated characters were created and is owned by Joss Whedon.

Doctor Who and all associated characters were created and is owned by the BBC.


End file.
